The present invention pertains to hunting arrows and more specifically to a crossbow arrow or bolt having cutter blades deployable from the aft portion of the arrow.
Bow hunting has become a popular sport and involves the use of specialized equipment. As well known, bow hunters utilize vertical type bows (such as long bows, recurve bows, and compound vertical bows) and crossbows. The arrows employed with vertical type bows and crossbows have many similarities and several differences. Typically, arrows employed with vertical type bows are longer than arrows employed with crossbows. Additionally, the diameter of arrows used with crossbows, which are also known as bolts, are typically greater than the diameter of arrows used with vertical type bows.
When hunting with a bow and arrow, it is generally understood that it is desirable to create an entry and an exit wound in a target animal. By creating an entry and exit wound, it is likely that bleeding from the wounds will permit the hunter to track and locate the target animal more easily. If the entry and exit wounds close quickly, tracking of the wounded animal may become more difficult and the animal may not be able to be located.
To address this problem, hunting arrows have been provided with broadheads at the forward end of the arrow that have cutter blades which deploy upon impact to produce a larger wound than would be produced without such blades. As a consequence of the deployment of the cutter blades in the broadhead at the forward end of the arrow, larger entry and exit wounds are produced. The size of the blades used in a broadhead, however, is limited in practice by the size of the broadhead. Additionally, if cutter blades at the forward end of an arrow are too large, the broadhead will not be as likely to pass through the target animal and create an exit wound.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,079,926 assigned to the assignee of the present invention discloses a rear mountable cutter device for a hunting arrow in which the cutter device is mounted to a component that is affixed to the rearward end of the arrow. The blades of the cutter device extend forward toward the broadhead. Prior to deployment, the blades are generally disposed along the surface of the arrow shaft and a tube is disposed over the blades to retain the blades in a non-deployed orientation during arrow flight. This embodiment results in a discontinuity in the outer diameter of the arrow shaft between the forward end of the arrow and the rearward end of the arrow due to the presence of the blades and the surrounding tube. This discontinuity is undesirable with respect to arrows or bolts launched by crossbows.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to have an expandable cutter assembly that is mountable to an arrow and that produces an entry wound larger than that typically produced by a conventional broadhead. Additionally, it would be desirable to have an arrow that is suitable for use with crossbows and that produces more substantial internal wounds in a target animal to more quickly cause the demise of the target animal.